LIFE - Landscape Integrity Films and Education

LIFE - Landscape Integrity Films and Education LIFE makes short educational films that empower people to transform patios, parkways and yards into

LIFE short web-based films empower people to be both water and ecosystem-wise through landscaping with native plants. Native plants are Nature’s technology – the best-adapted plants for the rainfall, climate, soil and food web of any region.

05/22/2019

Ecosystem Basics: To insects and other animals, isn’t one plant or flower just as good as another? Nope! Specialization in nature is THE RULE. Just as koalas need eucalyptus and pandas need bamboo, CA’s insects and other animals need CA native plants. Garden beyond ornamental: garden native to support our beautiful, biodiverse world! Every yard counts!

05/20/2019

Ecosystem Basics: To insects and other animals, isn’t one plant or flower just as good as another? Nope! Specialization in nature is THE RULE. Just as koalas need eucalyptus and pandas need bamboo, CA’s insects and other animals need CA native plants. Garden beyond ornamental: garden native to support our beautiful, biodiverse world! Every yard counts!

At sundown, this little guy beds down in a buttercup— just one tiny (French) example of native plant-insect relationship...
05/16/2019

At sundown, this little guy beds down in a buttercup— just one tiny (French) example of native plant-insect relationships. Look for native bees bedding down in your native garden.

Yes, the recent IPBES report on the extinction crisis was depressing and frightening, BUT we must not let it overwhelm u...
05/14/2019

Yes, the recent IPBES report on the extinction crisis was depressing and frightening, BUT we must not let it overwhelm us into inaction! Protect wild lands!Plant habitat gardens to support pollinators and other insects and animals where you live. This green sweat bee on Santa Cruz Island buckwheat is a garden jewel, and just one tiny example of the good we can do right where we live to support biodiversity. Love, and act for, the nature of where you live!

05/13/2019

Irrigation: Is your water bill higher than you’d like? If you have a yard, there’s a solution that doesn’t involve concrete, artificial turf or gravel, all of which make cities hotter. Watch this primer on how to establish and irrigate a native garden. Even in this changing climate, native plants thrive with minimal supplementary deep watering, once established. Garden beyond ornament: garden native to make the most of your water use! Every yard counts!

05/06/2019

Native Plants for Containers: How much habitat can containers of native plants provide? Plenty! In a sterile cityscape of ornamental plants, a native container garden had sphinx moths visiting the Hooker’s evening primrose and white-crowned sparrows eating buckwheat seeds. Native gardens work in whatever form they are found! Garden beyond ornament: garden native to discover the landscape of home. Every yard counts!

05/01/2019

Native Plants for Containers: How much habitat can containers of native plants provide? Plenty! In a sterile cityscape of ornamental plants, a native container garden had sphinx moths visiting the Hooker’s evening primrose and white-crowned sparrows eating buckwheat seeds. Native gardens work in whatever form they are found! Garden beyond ornament: garden native to discover the landscape of home. Every yard counts!

Ever wonder why some plants have red new leaves, like those of this California native Laurel Sumac (Malosma laurina)? Re...
05/01/2019

Ever wonder why some plants have red new leaves, like those of this California native Laurel Sumac (Malosma laurina)? Red new leaves have evolved because the red anthocyanin, a type of carotenoid pigment, prevents damage to the tender new leaves by absorbing ultraviolet light. The red anthocyanin also protects the plant by warning plant-eating insects and other animals that the leaves might be toxic, because anthocyanin is often accompanied by bad-tasting chemicals. Laurel Sumac makes a beautiful multi-trunked small tree, about 18’ x 18’. It’s evergreen and grows quickly, and is one of the most drought-tolerant plants of chaparral and coastal sage scrub ecosystems. PLUS, its berries make it one of THE essential plants for birds in Southern California. So much to love!

04/29/2019

CA Native Buckwheats: Is there more to buckwheat than pancakes? You bet! With dozens of species and varieties native to California, the buckwheat genus (Eriogonum) provides an array of textures, colors and sizes to fit any garden and create superb habitat for butterflies, birds and other animals. Garden beyond ornament: garden native to celebrate the amazing diversity of California’s plant species. Every yard counts!

Gorgeous BUT hardly a pollinator on it. Why? It’s a California Ceanothus in France, and the pollinators prefer (surprise...
04/25/2019

Gorgeous BUT hardly a pollinator on it. Why? It’s a California Ceanothus in France, and the pollinators prefer (surprise!) plants indigenous to their part of France. This is the tragedy of gardening with ornamental plants: however pretty they may look, they do not support the local ecosystem because they did not evolve with its insects and other animals. Wherever you live in the world, garden with the plants native to that particular place. Do this to help slow the extinction crisis and do your part for present and future generations. Talk about this with your friends, neighbors, local city council people— anyone and everyone! We must start making our gardens and public green spaces do more than just look pretty! They must be places where nature, rich and diverse, is given a chance to thrive! (And for those living in California, that’s a Ceanothus ‘Dark Star’.)

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